A BOYFRIEND who drove at his ex after he had smashed her mother’s car window with a brick has been jailed.
Lewis Watkins, 26, had gone to his former girlfriend’s mother’s home in Ebbw Vale after their romance had ended.
He had confronted his ex-partner in an incident that soon turned ugly, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
The judge, Recorder Simon Hughes, told Watkins: “You were in a relationship with the complainant but that relationship soured by May 2021.
“On May 18, 2021, you attended her mother’s address and at about 2.30pm and you were seen driving on the residential street aggressively.
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“You stopped outside the complainant’s mother’s home and you revved your engine.
“You were seen driving at speed and shouting and you then got out of the car and began shouting at the complainant, calling her a s***.”
Recorder Hughes said Watkins was swinging a piece of wood around before the victim threw a brick at the defendant as they argued.
The judge added: “You picked up that brick and you used it to smash the window of the complainant’s mother’s Volkswagen Golf car.
“You then re-entered your vehicle and began to reverse it on to the kerb.
“At that time the complainant was standing on the kerb in front of you with her arms spread.
“You then drove forward towards her and in doing so struck her.
“Your plea is on a basis, and it is accepted, that it was not your intention to strike her but that when you did so you did it recklessly.”
The victim was left with bruises on her chest, elbow and ankle.
Watkins, of Church View, Beaufort, Ebbw Vale, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, dangerous driving, criminal damage and possession of cannabis last May.
These offences put him in breach of a suspended prison sentence for possession of a prohibited weapon – a Taser – and producing cannabis.
Jeffrey Jones, representing Watkins, said in mitigation there had been an “element of provocation” towards his client last year.
At Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins was jailed for 10 months and banned from driving for 17 months.
He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge following his release from prison.
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